Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: State of Flux

Every modern Star Trek series has an episode where the show really hits its stride, where it finds itself. For TNG I would argue it was in the second season, around the time of "A Matter of Honor". DS9 I would argue was the first season finale, "In The Hands of the Prophets". And by all rights, "State of Flux" should have been when Voyager hit its stride.

I'm not going to lie. This is a fantastic episode. It's well done, and it shows the characters in all their complexity. It should have set the tone for the entire show. Too bad that did not happen.

There are not going to be many rewrites for this one. A few nitpicks, but mostly talking about the ramifications of this show that should have resonated throughout the series. As always this will be thematic rather than chronological, so you might want to refresh your memory of the episode over at Memory Alpha.

Really, it's not the size of the database,
It's the finesse of the search algorithm.

Let's lay a few things out first. Seska is not motivated by evil. She was a spy for the Cardassians, but as soon as they got trapped in the Delta Quadrant all bets were off. Now she is dedicated to two things, survival and getting home. And, furthermore, she wants to take Voyager with her. Mostly for the Maquis, not the Starfleet personnel, but still.

Throughout the episode three points of view will be in conflict: Janeway, Chakotay, and Seska. On the surface, it seems their argument is about how to survive in the Delta Quadrant. To a certain extent it is. But Voyager is about family, and really their conflict is what kind of family they want.

Interestingly, Janeway is the only one of the three who wants to be in charge. She is the mother of the ship, and it is her domain. Since "Eye of the Needle" she has considered going home a longshot, and she prioritizes the stability of the ship over returning home. That is Janeway's family. A happy family living by Starfleet rules, treating the Delta Quadrant like an adventure.

Chakotay wants Janeway to be in charge. He wants a Starfleet-run ship. But he does not want a Starfleet ship. He thinks that the many points of view of the crew should be accepted and allowed, even if that causes their family to be unstable. He covers for the Maquis when he can, and when he cannot (like when Seska raids the kitchen, an act that is impossible to hide) he tries to teach them a lesson. He includes himself in the punishment of that escapade, because the failures of his people are his own failures.

No Backsies

Seska wants Chakotay to be in charge. Partially because she thinks she can manipulate him, but I think also she thinks he would be best. She wants a family that cares only for itself, that are willing to exploit or harm those outside the family in order to survive and get home. Before we judge her too harshly for this, remember that this is the way many people think in the 21st century. Nationalism states that what is best for the nation should be pursued, regardless of how it might harm other peoples in the world. In a certain sense, Seska is a Voyager nationalist. Of course, she's really just thinking of herself, and she would likely dump the Starfleet crew out an airlock if she could, so it is not a perfect analogy. But it is a hard thing what Star Trek, through Janeway and Chakotay, ask her to do. They ask her to give up her own well-being to help not just those she cares for, but people she does not even know, who might be her enemies.

That is a beautiful three-way conflict, but it is not explicit. It is all in subtext. Chakotay's first fight with Seska, over the soup, can be interpreted many different ways. And I think the characters do interpret it differently. For Chakotay, Seska is harming her fellow crewmembers for her own gain, showing selfishness. For Seska, Chakotay is defending ridiculous Starfleet rules that oppress the Maquis, and punishing her for a selfless act of love toward him. Because this is subtext rather than text, there is no resolution. From their differing perspectives the other is in the wrong.

In their second argument, over Seska being pulled off the away team, again everything is in subtext. I think Chakotay is lying a little there. He does trust Seska's motives, but he also knows that Seska flaunts Starfleet regulations (she has done so before, after all, in "Prime Factors"). So he cannot trust her behavior. Seska, on the other hand, takes his words at face value, and becomes offended at his paternalistic desire to protect her. Again, from their perspectives, the other is in the wrong.

And finally it all falls apart, and Seska is revealed as a Cardassian spy. But, she claims, that changed when they reached the Delta Quadrant. And I see no reason to disbelieve her. She gave Federation technology to the Kazon for the good of the ship. She does think Chakotay would be a better captain. She does think they need to focus on their own survival, even if it shifts the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant. And Chakotay explains nothing to her. He just rejects her. And this, I think, pushes her into full-blown villainhood.

It is a fantastic arc. But it needs to continue.

Maquis policy was to assign all spies to Chakotay

From here, at least through "Learning Curve" at the end of the season, tensions between Starfleet and Maquis need to grow more brittle. A Maquis was shown to be a spy. It's only natural that they would be treated with suspicion. Not one, but two of Chakotay's most trusted officers were working against him. Who's to say there are not others? A little of this is shown in Carey's eagerness to finger Seska for the crime, and Janeway's willingness to suspect Seska because she's Maquis, even in front of Chakotay, shows more of it.

Chakotay's exchange with Tuvok at the end of the episode helps assuage his feelings of incompetence, but he is still going to be riddled with self-doubt. He will wonder if he can trust anybody in the Maquis. And he will start to wonder if, perhaps, he could have saved Seska. Sure she was a Cardassian spy, but once they arrived in the Delta Quadrant, could he have communicated with her better and kept her from committing mutiny? Could he have convinced her that their best hope lie in integration with Starfleet? In my rewrite, this is the moment where Chakotay becomes more sympathetic to Janeway's belief that the Maquis need to assimilate into a Starfleet ship, but at the same time he does not want to lose another Maquis like he lost Seska.

Meanwhile the Maquis will begin to fracture. Some, like B'Elanna, will be horrified at what Seska did, and work all the harder to be a good Starfleet officer. Others, though, will think she went too far, but see her complaints against Janeway as legitimate. Particularly when the Starfleet crew start treating them with more suspicion.

Now, let's talk character.

Everybody Hates Chakotay

Chakotay is fantastic in this episode. We want more of that. The balance he strikes between trying to defend
"his" Maquis and being canny enough to suspect the most likely traitor is well done.

Janeway is likewise tremendous. She is strong, in control, a good Captain, but you can see subtle hints of the Star Tyrant in her manner. As I said back in "Eye of the Needle", I want to keep shades of that. That is Janeway's dark side, the side of her that she has to fight against. Look at the cold fury in her manner when Tuvok brings up the possibility of a traitor among the crew. Look at her response to Cullah. Janeway's "I'm really easy to get along with most of the time" is a bit ironic, as she's frequently stubborn and demanding (as Kirk was, and as all good captains are), but her anger at Cullah is, in my opinion, her anger at a reflection of herself. Like Janeway, Cullah is used to being obeyed, and is stubborn and demanding. Cullah is the Star Tyrant, and Janeway hates that in him, because she hates it in herself.

Neelix, surprisingly, is wonderful, although he's only in the first part of the episode. But he's there to be a guide, and he does that both on the planet, and in his warning to Captain Janeway regarding the distressed Kazon ship. And wow, Janeway actually explains herself to Neelix when she overrules him! That's a fantastic improvement.

Tuvok does not get a lot of character development, but his role in the episode is important, since he's there as a reminder that Chakotay was fooled by a traitor before.

B'Elanna does not get much of the spotlight, but what she does get is amazing. Janeway actually allows her to do her job! B'Elanna does all the engineering in this episode (albeit frequently off-screen). I'm tempted to give B'Elanna rather than Carey the idea to rotate the containment field, but Carey needs some stuff to do in order to be a decent red herring. Also B'Elanna's take down of the Scotty "Miracle Worker" method is brilliant. If she says tomorrow, it will be done tomorrow. Not sooner. It shows that B'Elanna is not there to impress anyone, she's just there to do her job.

Tom gets in a few interesting lines, but otherwise he's just there. Ditto with the rest of the crew. It's not their episode, and that's fine.

So what would I rewrite? Really only two things.

Imzadi denied!

First, I'd get rid of the part where Seska and Chakotay are former lovers. Yes, it does bring them closer together, and that improves the story... but it also immediately makes it obvious that Seska is the villain. It is difficult to believe Carey is the traitor when we know Seska used to bang Chakotay.

Second, and it is a little thing, but when Chakotay goes into the cave and sees the Kazon, he keeps going rather than calling for backup. That is a foolish thing to do. He could have ducked out of the cave, reported the Kazon, then gone back in to look for Seska. It's a little thing, but it just galled me. Instead, let's have the Kazon with Seska, apparently captured (though really taking her back from her meeting when she gave them the replicator technology). Seska in captivity is a reason for Chakotay to act swiftly. He can shoot one of the Kazon, Seska can then react by elbowing the other in the face and kicking him, then they can both escape.

Otherwise, this is a really good episode. Well done. Unfortunately the two freelancers who came up with the story and wrote the teleplay did not work on Voyager again.

Now go away until Season 7!